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<title>Brian's First Trip To Singapore</title>
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<h1>Brian's First Trip To <!WA2><!WA2><!WA2><a href="http://www.sg">Singapore</a></h1>

<br clear=all>

<p>
<!WA3><!WA3><!WA3><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/buddha.gif"><!WA4><!WA4><!WA4><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-buddha.gif" align=right></a>
<b>10/15/95:</b> My wife Charmaine and I recently returned from my first <!WA5><!WA5><!WA5><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/sog.html">trip to Singapore</a>,
actually my first trip overseas.  It was my first opportunity to
experience another culture firsthand.  It was also my first time
meeting Charmaine's family.  Before the trip I had briefly spoken to
Charmaine's oldest sister, Corinne, on the phone and I had met another
of her sisters, Veronica, when she visited us in December 1994.  I had
no other contact with Charmaine's family.

<p> Despite a few problems (<em>e.g.</em>, with Charmaine's visa), I
had a great time in Singapore.  I got along very well with Charmaine's
family, especially the kids and Douglas, one of Charmaine's brothers.
Charmaine's parents and her brother Kelvin generously paid for the
whole trip.

<p><hr>

<p><h2>Contents</h2>

<p><ul>
<li><!WA6><!WA6><!WA6><a href="#observations">Observations about Singapore
<ul>
	<li><!WA7><!WA7><!WA7><a href="#weather">Weather</a></li>
	<li><!WA8><!WA8><!WA8><a href="#florafauna">Flora and Fauna</a></li>
	<li><!WA9><!WA9><!WA9><a href="#architecture">Architecture</a></li>
	<li><!WA10><!WA10><!WA10><a href="#appliances">Appliances</a></li>
	<li><!WA11><!WA11><!WA11><a href="#transportation">Transportation</a></li>
	<li><!WA12><!WA12><!WA12><a href="#shopping">Shopping and Restaurants</a></li>
	<li><!WA13><!WA13><!WA13><a href="#Food">Food</a></li>
	<li><!WA14><!WA14><!WA14><a href="#media">Media</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><!WA15><!WA15><!WA15><a href="#characters">Cast of Characters</a></li>
<li><!WA16><!WA16><!WA16><a href="#journal">Trip Journal</a>
<ul>
	<li><!WA17><!WA17><!WA17><a href="#week1">Charmaine departs for Singapore</a></li>
	<li><!WA18><!WA18><!WA18><a href="#week2">Brian departs for Singapore</a></li>
	<li><!WA19><!WA19><!WA19><a href="#banquet">Our "Wedding" Banquet</a></li>
	<li><!WA20><!WA20><!WA20><a href="#visa">My First Trip to the US Embassy</a></li>
	<li><!WA21><!WA21><!WA21><a href="#photos">Our Photo Session</a></li>
	<li><!WA22><!WA22><!WA22><a href="#birds">The Jurong Bird Park</a></li>
	<li><!WA23><!WA23><!WA23><a href="#sentosa">Sentosa</a></li>
	<li><!WA24><!WA24><!WA24><a href="#tea">The Tea Chapter</a></li>
	<li><!WA25><!WA25><!WA25><a href="#safari">A Taoist Temple and The Night Safari</a></li>
	<li><!WA26><!WA26><!WA26><a href="#hawpar">Haw Par Villa</a></li>
	<li><!WA27><!WA27><!WA27><a href="#reserve">Bukit Timah Nature Reserve</a></li>
	<li><!WA28><!WA28><!WA28><a href="#home">The Trip Home</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>

<p><hr>

<p>
<a name="observations"><h2>Observations about Singapore</h2></a>

<p>
These are just some of my observations of the first country other than
the US where I stayed for a significant amount of time.

<dl>
<p>
<dt><strong><!WA29><!WA29><!WA29><a name="weather" href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/land.html">Weather</a></strong>
<dd>
It is hot.  It was 90+F every day I was there until it rained
just before I left.  And, when it rains, it rains heavily!  The drains
on Singapore streets are 1m-deep trenches on both sides of the road,
rather than small openings to an underground sewer.  The trench drains
lead to a network of canals that carry the rain water back to the
ocean.  I wonder why the canals don't channel the water into the
reservoirs?  Singapore must buy most of its fresh water from Malaysia.
Even with such a drain system, floods can still occur during
the monsoon season (fall).  Other than by the amount rain, there is no
way to distinguish the seasons in tropical Singapore.

<p>
<dt><strong><!WA30><!WA30><!WA30><a name="florafauna"
href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/flora.html>Flora</a> and <a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/fauna.html>Fauna</a></strong>
<dd>
The plant life is totally different.  There are many
colorful flowers.  The most common trees are rain trees, which line
most roads, and palm trees.  I saw many wild banana trees, too (wild
ones apparently don't bear fruit).  The most common bird is the mynah,
which I only see in zoos in the US.  Geckos crawl around inside the
houses on the ceiling and walls.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="architecture">Architecture</a></strong>
<dd>
There are many tall buildings.  Singapore is a more
densely populated city than Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Houston.
I have never been to New York City, so I can't compare it with Singapore.  Most new
development is in the form of high-rise buildings.  <!WA31><!WA31><!WA31><a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/housing-main.html">Apartment
buildings</a> are about ten to thirty stories, and are painted several
bright colors.  I have never seen buildings painted so many colors in
the US.  I'm told that part of the reason for this is so that
illiterate tenants can recognize their own buildings.  The buildings
are made of steel and concrete.  There are few wooden buildings.  With
concrete ceilings and walls and marble floors, the houses do not
retain odors and are cooler than they otherwise would be.  Because of
the warm weather, some windows have no glass, only metalwork.  Many
buildings have small steps only a couple inches high in odd places.  I
tripped over many of these.  Literally everywhere you look is
<!WA32><!WA32><!WA32><a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/urban-main.html">construction</a> and, consequently, noise and dust are problems in
Singapore.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="appliances">Appliances</a></strong>
<dd>
Light switches are placed higher and closer to the edges
of walls than in the US.  The switches are also smaller.  There are
switches for electric outlets (50 Hz, 240V) and water heaters as well.
A water heater in Singapore is a small box that heats a small stream of water as it
passes through.  Many places do not have hot water.  Because of the
year-round heat, it isn't needed as much as in the US.  Most toilets
are the old-fashioned squat-type.  Showers are in the corners of the
bathrooms with no stalls.  I saw no bathtubs except at hotels.  Many
people wash clothes by hand.  I saw no dishwashers.  Refrigerators are
"rotary", whatever that means.  They have a small freezer compartment
at the top, like most fridges here, and an equal-sized main
compartment.  There are also two drawers at the bottom that open from
the outside of the unit, rather than from the inside. Air
conditioners are called "aircon" units, and most are made by Sanyo.
The units are four to five feet long and a little more than a foot
high.  They are installed in interior walls near the ceiling.
Many people do not use air conditioning in their homes because they
think the air is somehow artificial or bad.  All malls and restaurants
are air conditioned.  All lights are fluorescent.

<p>
<dt><strong><!WA33><!WA33><!WA33><a name="transportation" href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/trans-land2.html#pub">Transportation</a></strong>
<dd>
Japanese and European cars are the most common types in Singapore.  I
don't remember seeing any American-made automobiles.  The models are
different, too.  For example, I saw no Toyota Tercels or Celicas, but
they had models called the Crown and Corona.
Cars are very expensive, largely because of a 200+%
tax on automobiles.  One must also buy permits to enter various areas
of the city during peak hours.  For these reasons, most people do not
own cars.  Those who do drive swerve in and out of their lanes,
seemingly not conscious of the lines painted on the pavement.

<p>
Taxis are very common and convenient.  We took taxis almost everywhere.
Taxis are much cheaper than in the US.  The minimum fare is S$2.40
(the exchange rate was about S$1.4 to $1).  Our average fare for the
whole trip was about S$5.  During the first week, we spent S$20 to
S$30 per day on taxi fares.  Charmaine was averse to walking in the
Singapore heat, so we mostly commuted by taxi.  

<p>
Whenever I went out alone, I took the MRT, Singapore's rail system.
Outside the city, it is elevated.  Downtown, it is underground.  It is
very convenient and cheap.  It has stops within a mile of just about
anywhere you would want to go within the city.  The trains and
stations are very clean, as is all of Singapore.  Actually, the law
banning public use of chewing gum was passed because kids had stuck
gum all over MRT stations, including in the doors, causing them to
jam.  We took buses a few times.  Singapore has a couple competing bus
services, so service was good.

<p>
Rickshaws are still commonplace on less busy city streets.  They
no longer travel some streets because many rickshaws were hit by
Singapore's reckless drivers.  Charmaine's mother takes rickshaws to
the market.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="shopping">Shopping and Restaurants</a></strong>
<dd>
Singaporeans like to shop.  There are malls everywhere.  Most shops
are registered as being private limited (PTE LTD can be seen on most
store fronts), which reduces their liability in some way.  One must
still haggle at some shops, but that isn't as common as it used to be.
Supermarkets are just breaking into the scene.  I didn't see any while
I was there, but I did see a commercial for a Food Lion.  I saw
one mini-supermarket in a shopping mall.  Most Singaporeans shop very
frequently, even daily, at wet markets, where they can buy live
seafood and chickens.  They like their food fresh.  Most Singaporeans
do not even take leftovers home from restaurants.  I saw also a few
specialty shops that only sold different kinds of dried
fish, or only different types of bananas.  I never knew there were so
many different types of bananas.

<p>
Some old men can still found pushing small carts selling sandwiches,
but they are rare.
<!WA34><!WA34><!WA34><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/hawker.html">Hawker
centers</a> are very popular and very cheap.  Hawker centers are like
food courts.  They are called hawker 
centers because the proprietors of individual stalls used to attempt
to harass people into buying their food.  Thankfully, this practice is
now banned and only practiced at a few of the older hawker centers.
Usually there is one shop in the center that sells only drinks.
Hawker stalls do not supply napkins, so you have to remember to take
your own.  It is possible to get a good meal in Singapore for a couple
dollars.  Many people eat out rather than cook, because it isn't
significantly more expensive.  

<p>
There are more malls, restaurants, and hawker centers in Singapore than
you can imagine.  Practically every office building has a mall on its
first few levels.  Practically every mall has a few restaurants and a
hawker center.

<p>
<dt><strong><!WA35><!WA35><!WA35><a name="Food" href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/food.intro.html">Cuisine</a></strong>
<dd>
<!WA36><!WA36><!WA36><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/info/people.html">More than 75% of
the population is Chinese.  There are also significant numbers of
Malaysians and Indians</a>, so Singaporean cuisine
is a blend of the cooking styles of these cultures, but prodominantly
Chinese.  The Paranakans have completely blended the Chinese and Malaysian
cultures and cuisines.  I didn't get around to trying their food when
I was in Singapore, unfortunately.  Authentic Chinese cooking is
fairly greasy and salty, with a heavy emphasis on meat, especially
prawns, pork, and fish.  Dried shrimp and fish are also commonly used,
and of course various types of tofu.  Popular foods for breakfast
include dim sum (Chinese, mostly meat in small wrappers or buns),
<!WA37><!WA37><!WA37><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/ls.html">laksa</a>
(Malaysian, a curry soup), <!WA38><!WA38><!WA38><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/ms.html">mee siam</a>
(Malaysian, spicy noodles),
nasi lemak (rice, egg, dried fish, peanuts, and chili paste wrapped in
a banana leaf), and roti prata (Indian, fried bread with curry).  I
had boiled pigeon eggs a few times, too.
Other popular dishes include chee cheong fun, char kway teow, <!WA39><!WA39><!WA39><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/clr.html">claypot 
rice</a>, <!WA40><!WA40><!WA40><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/hawker/chr.html">chicken
rice</a>, wan tan
noodles, Hor Fun, and satay.  I tried all of these foods and also ate
squid several times, jellyfish, and sea cucumber.  Papaya, starfruit,
and durian are popular fruits.  Durian is considered the king of
fruits and is very expensive.
Like most foreigners, I can't stand the smell of durian.  It also has
a bad aftertaste.
Desserts are mostly coconut-based (agar, coconut milk, coconut water).
I didn't like any of them.  KFC is the most popular fast-food chain,
and is practically ubiquitous.  Burger King and McDonalds are also
relatively common.  Genuine Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Indonesian
food is popular and easily obtainable.  Fresh milk is rare and
expensive.  Most people drink sweetened condensed milk, when they
drink milk at all.  Beef is also seldom eaten.  Charmaine's mother
never cooked anything with beef while we were there.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="media">Media</a></strong>
<dd>
Limited, censored cable television is available, but
they do not have satellite services.  Four
government-censored stations are broadcast in different languages
(Malay, Mandarin, English, and Tamil).  A couple Indonesian stations
can be picked up in some parts of Singapore.
Movies are heavily
censored in a rather inelegant way.  They have a similar rating
system, but all US movies are rated PG, even those rated R here (after
being heavily cut).  European movies are less censored than US ones.
Singapore provides modern <!WA41><!WA41><!WA41><a
href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/phy-dev/trans-intro.html#tele">telecommunications
services</a>, but
Internet service is very expensive and restricted.  I once tried to
connect to the US, but was unable to reach any of my machines here.
On the other hand, they have interactive TV.  Right now, you can
select news stories from a menu and read them on your TV.  Next year,
there should be government-information, shopping, and video-on-demand
services.  There is only one paper published in Singapore, "The
Straits Times."  It is controlled by the government.  The paper's viewpoint is
very different from common opinion in the US on some issues.  William
Saffire is singled out and
attacked routinely.  Radio stations play current US popular music and
older (60s, 70s) US popular music is very popular.

</dl>

<p><hr>

<p>
<h2><a name="characters">Cast of Characters</a></h2>

<p>
<center>
<table width=500 border=0 cellpadding=3 callspacing=3>
<tr><th align=left>Charmaine (aka Hong)</th> <td>My wife</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Dad</th> <td>Charmaine's father</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Mom</th> <td>Charmaine's mother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Corinne</th> <td>Charmaine's oldest sibling</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Kelvin (aka Ah Seng)</th> <td>Charmaine's oldest brother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Alice</th> <td>Kelvin's wife</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Favian</th> <td>Kelvin's 9-year-old son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Vanessa (aka Mei Mei)</th> <td>Kelvin's 7-year-old daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Kaharina</th> <td>The family's Indonesian maid</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Molly</th> <td>Charmaine's sister</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Twee Nee (aka Ah Nee)</th> <td>Molly's husband</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Eleanor</th> <td>Molly's 2-year-old daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Veronica (aka Siew Hoon)</th> <td>Charmaine's sister</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Nelson</th> <td>Veronica's husband</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Douglas (aka Ah Koon)</th> <td>Charmaine's brother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Rachel</th> <td>Douglas's fiance (wife)</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Valerie (aka Ah Cheng)</th> <td>Charmaine's sister</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Stanley</th> <td>Valerie's fiance (husband)</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Henry (aka Se Di)</th> <td>Charmaine's brother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Lorraine</th> <td>Henry's fiance (wife)</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Toa Goo</th> <td>Mom's oldest brother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Francis</th> <td>Toa Goo's son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Dora</th> <td>Francis's wife</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Melvin</th> <td>Francis's son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Marcus</th> <td>Francis's other son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Andrew</th> <td>Toa Goo's son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Grandma (aka Oma)</th> <td>Mom's mother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Jee Goo</th> <td>Mom's second brother</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Ah Kheem</th> <td>Jee Goo's wife</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Caroline</th> <td>Jee Goo's oldest daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Evelyn</th> <td>Jee Goo's second daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Annie</th> <td>Jee Goo's third daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Ah Yee</th> <td>Mom's sister</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Anne</th> <td>Ah Yee's daughter</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Alex</th> <td>Ah Yee's son</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Paulette</th> <td>Corinne's good friend</td></tr>
<tr><th align=left>Uncle George</th> <td>Dad's old friend</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

<p>
Note that many of these "names" are actually titles.  Examples are Mei
Mei, Se Di, Toa Goo, Jee Goo, Ah Kheem, and Ah Yee.  When I was in
Singapore, I wasn't sure whether Ah Nee was a title, his actual name,
or just a nickname.  All
of Charmaine's siblings have two short Chinese names.  However, they
are usually only called by one of the names.  For example, Kelvin's
name is Beng Seng, but they just call him Seng.  When referring to
someone in the third person, an "Ah" frequently precedes the name
(e.g., Ah Seng).  Charmaine's Chinese name is Beng Hoon, but everyone
calls her Hong, which means phoenix.  Favian and Vanessa call her Hong
Goo Goo, which means father's sister.  Eleanor calls her Hong Ah Yee, which means
mother's sister.
<p>
I listed a few people as someone's fiance.  Actually, they are already
legally married, but haven't held their wedding ceremonies yet.  In
Singapore, there is a housing shortage.  New couples must wait for
their flats to be built.  Since they can only apply for new housing as
married couples, they legally marry first and get on the waiting list,
then hold the ceremony when a unit becomes available.  The wait is
usually two to three years.

<p><hr>

<h2><a name="journal">Trip Journal</a></h2>

What follows is a day-by-day account of our trip.  I took notes nearly
every day when I was there so that I would be able to write this
journal when I got back.  You may notice my wife Charmaine sleeping a
lot.  She was about nine or ten weeks pregnant with our first child
when she left for the trip, so she needed more rest than usual.  She
also found the heat rather oppressive, despite the fact that she grew
up in Singapore.

<dl>

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="week1">Friday, August 25</a></strong>
<dd>
Charmaine's J-1 student visa was finally renewed, just in time for her
departure.  She submitted the paperwork to the INS in March as
directed by her responsible officer at Purdue International Student
Services, Donita Bowman.  In March, we thought we would go to
Singapore in June.  Since the INS would hold Charmaine's passport
during her application for permanent residency and she wouldn't be able
to leave the US, we did not want to apply until after our trip.
Therefore, we were instructed to renew Charmaine's J-1 visa.  We were
told that would be fine, since Charmaine is still a postdoc,
officially a training position.  Later we found out this was not
correct.

<p>
<dt><strong>Sunday, September 3</strong>
<dd>
We woke up at 2am and drove to the airport to await Charmaine's 4:40am
flight on EVA, a Taiwanese airline.  When flying internationally,
always take the foreign airlines because they cost half as much as the
US airlines with
about the same quality of service.  The only disadvantage of taking
EVA (for me) was the Chinese-style food, which I came to dislike by
the end of the trip.  When I left, I thought I loved Chinese food, but
I quickly discovered that real Chinese food is much more greasy and salty
than what I can tolerate, and that Chinese cuisine contains far too
much meat for my taste.  They eat meat in every meal, including
breakfast!  I usually eat yogurt and cereal for breakfast, salad and
rice for lunch, and fruit and bread during the afternoon.  I normally
don't eat meat until dinner time.

<p>
Charmaine left a week earlier than I did to spend some time alone with
her parents and Corinne, her confidante.  She also needed time to go
to the US embassy to pick up her single-entry visa, to pick up a visa
from the Taiwanese embassy, and to fit a new dress for the wedding
banquet.

<p>
We had originally planned to have a full Singaporean Chinese-style
wedding, but that would have required a lot of time and money, and
would have been a significant obligation to her other family members.
Also, I had no family in Singapore and the groom's parents and their
home play important roles in the traditional ceremonies.
It would have been especially difficult since Veronica had been
married in June and Valerie plans to marry in December.  Because of
these two weddings, we changed our trip from June to September.  We
also decided to only have a small banquet, rather than a full wedding
and banquet.  Besides, we were already married in the US more than a
year ago.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="week2">Friday, September 8</a></strong>
<dd>
In the morning, I ran many last-minute errands such as dropping our
houseplants with <!WA42><!WA42><!WA42><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/madani/">Omid</a>, picking up
traveller's checks, and buying a
small gift for Charmaine's parents.  I finished the errands by about
3pm, then rushed to campus for some frenzied hacking.  Fortunately, I
finished what I needed to have done in only a few hours and was able
to go home, watch my rented copy of <em>The Wedding Banquet</em>, and
go to bed early.

<p>
<dt><strong>Saturday, September 9</strong>
<dd>
I packed first thing in the morning.  I rushed so much to finish
everything that I was left with nothing to do for most of the day.
So, I sat down to read.  At 6:30pm, I left to pick up <!WA43><!WA43><!WA43><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/voelker/">Geoff</a> on
campus,
who volunteered to drop me at the airport.  It turned out to be
fortunate that I left my keys with him.  We had dinner at the Red
Robin, then Geoff dropped me at SeaTac around 8:30pm.  There I met
Burso and Wendy, who were on their way back to Singapore from Pullman.
It was good to have someone to talk to.

<p>
<dt><strong>Sunday, September 10</strong>
<dd>
Boarding began at 4am.  The flight to Taipei was a painful 12 hours.
Dinner was served first, then breakfast.  That seemed a little odd,
but they were going by Taiwan time as soon as we were in the air.  We
lost 15 hours, so this day was over as soon as we landed.  Somehow,
Taipei is in the same timezone as Singapore.  

<p>
<dt><strong>Monday, September 11</strong>
<dd>
We were stuck in the awful Chiang Kai Shek Airport for a couple hours.
I quickly discovered that too many people smoke in east Asia.  I had
heard about that problem on the news, but that isn't the same as
experiencing it first-hand.

<p>
Charmaine called me at the airport from Singapore.  EVA personnel
probably called my name, but I didn't understand them.  So, I didn't
find out about the call until I was boarding the plane.  They pulled
me out of line, told me to call her, and said that I would miss the
flight.  Unfortunately, I didn't speak Taiwanese, so I couldn't speak
to the operator.  I also had no Taiwanese money for making a direct
call from a payphone.  I tried to ask the EVA personnel to call, but it
was obvious that they didn't understand what I was talking about.
Fortunately, Charmaine called back just then.  She just wanted to know
whether I had certain documents, such as our marriage certificate.
Fortunately I had enough foresight to bring them.
This was the first I heard of her visa troubles.

<p>
Well, I didn't miss the flight.  I boarded at 11am.  The flight
arrived in Singapore at 3:45pm.  Charmaine was waiting just outside
the doors to the baggage-claim area.  The Singapore airport is more
controlled than US airports.  Most areas are only accessible to
passengers.

<p>
Nelson, Corinne, and Vanessa were also waiting.  Corinne has severe
Lupus, and is frequently hospitalized.  I'm glad she felt well during
our visit.

<p>
The plan was that we
would stay with several of Charmaine's siblings and her parents for a
few nights each, and perhaps a few nights in hotels.  We dropped
Corinne at home (she lives with mom and dad), and went to Veronica's
with Vanessa.  We rested there for a little while, cleaned up, and
went back to mom and dad's for dinner.  I briefly met 
Charmaine's parents and most of her siblings.  Everyone was very nice
from the beginning.  We then rushed off to pick up Charmaine's dress. 
It turned out that the
shop ironed the ink from the price tag onto the inside of the dress
when they pressed it after altering it.  So, Charmaine had them
alter a new one.  They said it could be ready after 4pm the next day,
the day we needed it.

<p>
Veronica and Nelson had air conditioning and actually used it, so we
were fairly comfortable my first night in Singapore.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="banquet">Tuesday, September 12</a></strong>
<dd>
Charmaine started to tell me about the visa mess.  She was told by the
US embassy that she needed to return to the US on an immigrant visa
(aka green card, PR, or permanent residency) since she was married to
a US citizen and likely to stay in the US.  They handed her several forms
when she had visited the embassy before my arrival and told her it
would take a couple months to complete the process.  In the US,
application for permanent residency takes six to eight months.

<p>
Charmaine had a doctor's appointment early in the morning.  She needed
a physical and some tests for part of her application for the
immigrant visa.  The embassy designated a small number of doctors that
could perform the exam.  All charged four to five times what regular clinics
charged for the tests.  After spending a couple hours there, they told
us we had to return later for another test.

<p>
So, we went to have Charmaine's hair re-permed by her stylist,
Jeffrey.  She had it permed a
few days earlier, but the curls had straightened on the first wash, so
she was having it redone for free.  The whole process took about three
hours.  During this time, Corinne called the medical clinic and
discovered that the test for which we were supposed to return was not
required by the US embassy.  So, the two of us went back to the
medical clinic to pay the bill so that the results from the other
tests would be forwarded to the embassy.

<p>
Corinne, Charmaine, and I then ate at the salad bar at Ponderosa, one
of the few places salad can be found in Singapore.  Afterwards, we
picked up the dress and rushed to the photographers to fit my suit for
our photosession. By 5pm, we were able to return to Veronica's for a
nap.

<p>
We then rushed to dinner (we did a lot of rushing; Singaporeans are
very hyper, especially the women) and were a couple minutes late.  Our
banquet was at the Lei Garden, a Cantonese restaurant.  Everyone
listed in the cast of characters attended.  We received
the traditional ang pows (small red packets containing money) and took
some photos.  We took many group photos.  For example, we took
pictures of:
<li><!WA44><!WA44><!WA44><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/mom-dad.gif">
<!WA45><!WA45><!WA45><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-mom-dad.gif" align=middle> mom and dad</a></li>,
<li><!WA46><!WA46><!WA46><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/kelvin-family.gif">
<!WA47><!WA47><!WA47><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-kelvin-family.gif" align=middle> Kelvin and his family</a></li>,
<li><!WA48><!WA48><!WA48><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/doug-rachel.gif">
<!WA49><!WA49><!WA49><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-doug-rachel.gif" align=middle> Douglas and Rachel</a></li>,
<li><!WA50><!WA50><!WA50><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/henry-lorraine.gif">
<!WA51><!WA51><!WA51><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-henry-lorraine.gif" align=middle> Henry and Lorraine</a></li>,
<li><!WA52><!WA52><!WA52><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/molly-nee.gif">
<!WA53><!WA53><!WA53><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-molly-nee.gif" align=middle> Molly and Ah Nee</a></li>,
<li><!WA54><!WA54><!WA54><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/veron-nelson.gif">
<!WA55><!WA55><!WA55><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-veron-nelson.gif" align=middle> Veronica and Nelson (and Eleanor)</a></li>,
<li><!WA56><!WA56><!WA56><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/valerie-stan.gif">
<!WA57><!WA57><!WA57><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-valerie-stan.gif" align=middle> Valerie and Stanley</a></li>, and
<li><!WA58><!WA58><!WA58><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/jee-goo-family.gif">
<!WA59><!WA59><!WA59><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-jee-goo-family.gif" align=middle> Jee Goo and his family</a></li>.

<p>
Finally, we sat down for the ten-course dinner.  We took pictures of
each table:
<li><!WA60><!WA60><!WA60><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/table1.gif">
<!WA61><!WA61><!WA61><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-table1.gif" align=middle> the main table</a></li>,
<li><!WA62><!WA62><!WA62><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/table2.gif">
<!WA63><!WA63><!WA63><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-table2.gif" align=middle> the second table</a></li>,
<li><!WA64><!WA64><!WA64><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/table3.gif">
<!WA65><!WA65><!WA65><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-table3.gif" align=middle> the third table</a></li>, and
<li><!WA66><!WA66><!WA66><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/table4.gif">
<!WA67><!WA67><!WA67><img src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-table4.gif" align=middle> the fourth table</a></li>.

<p>
The courses were: roasted skin from a suckling pig (a delicacy), steamed live
prawns, shark fin soup, steamed live grouper, beef and jellyfish,
pork and blubber, spinach and abalone mushrooms, house noodles, red
bean soup, and sweet dim sum.  Many dishes are traditional and have
special meanings for the occassion.  For example,
the pig symbolizes prosperity.  By
eating the head and tail of the fish together, one will then sail
smoothly through life.  The noodles symbolize longevity.  

<p>
<!WA68><!WA68><!WA68><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/yum-seng.gif">
<!WA69><!WA69><!WA69><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-yum-seng.gif"></a>
Between courses, we took more pictures.  We also visited each of the
four tables and those at each table shouted <!WA70><!WA70><!WA70><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/yum-seng.gif">"yum
seng,"</a> which means bottoms up!  Every time they shouted, we had to
drink (we were only drinking soda).  Chinese ceremonies and banquets
are very loud to chase away bad spirits.  Francis (second from the
left, in the colorful shirt) was the loudest.  After the dinner, the
restaurant gave us a set of cups and spoons.  We were tired, so we
went to sleep almost immediately after returning to Veronica's.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="visa">Wednesday, September 13</a></strong>
<dd>
Early in the morning, we went to the office of the <!WA71><!WA71><!WA71><a href="http://www.sg/infomap/mita/gov/def-int.html#criminal">CID</a> (kind of like
the FBI) to obtain certification that Charmaine had no criminal record
for part of her visa application.  We then went down the road to the
US embassy.  This was my first of many trips there.  I was fuming and they
brought Vice Consul Van Cleve to speak to me.  He said that it was
fraud for Charmaine to renew her student visa since she planned to
stay in the US, and that he could not allow her to return to the US on
that visa.  (That put Donita Bowman of PISS on my hit list.  She previously
misfiled some paperwork for Charmaine and many other students, causing
them to become illegal aliens.  Charmaine had to return to Singapore
for three weeks to straighten it out.)  I told Van Cleve that it was
unaccectable for our trip to be extended.  He looked a little stunned, but
assured me that they could process the application within a week.

<p>
Feeling somewhat relieved, we returned to mom and dad's for lunch.  We
then returned to Veronica's for a nap and we finished the visa
application given to us by the embassy.  Veronica and Nelson brought
back dinner from mom when they returned.  Despite the fact that,
except for Corinne, all of Charmaine's seven siblings are married or
engaged, all but Molly still eat dinner at home.  Everyone must eat in
shifts because there is not enough room to feed everyone
simultaneously.  This works out because not everyone arrives at home
at the same time.  Because everyone eats at home, mom must spend hours
going to the market and cooking every day.

<p>
After dinner, we went to six different photoshops in an attempt to
have pictures taken for the visa application.  The pictures needed to
show a 3/4 view of the face on a white background.  All of the instant
photoshops were setup for passport photos, which are frontal portraits
on blue backgrounds.  We gave up on the photos and went to the
Cybernet Cafe, a coffeeshop with PCs running Netscape.  Unfortunately,
I could not telnet to UW.  Access to the US seemed to be restricted.

<p>
We then dropped by Clarke Quay, a restored
area on the Singapore River.  At Clarke Quay, there are many shops,
restaurants, night clubs, musicians, street vendors, and the like.  We
then went for satay.  We sat just in front of the tanks of crabs and
frogs.  The satay was good, but the peanut sauce was very oily.
Finally, we went back to Veronica's for some sleep.

<p>
I had to get up in the middle of the night to call Geoff, Frankye,
and our bank to have financial information faxed to us.  Charmaine
called her boss at <!WA72><!WA72><!WA72><a href="http://www.fhcrc.org/">Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research
Center</a> to get proof of continued employment.  Henry brought back a
fax machine from his office and set it up at mom and dad's.  All of the 
faxes came in during the night.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="photos">Thursday, September 14</a></strong>
<dd>
<!WA73><!WA73><!WA73><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/chinese-portrait.gif">
<!WA74><!WA74><!WA74><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-chinese-portrait.gif"></a>
Normally it is pretty easy to catch a cab, but this morning we waited
for 45 minutes before we could get one.  We ate at mom and dad's and
then went with Corinne to the studio for our photosession.  I had my
immigration photos taken at the studio before our session.  I waited
for an hour while the stylist did Charmaine's hair and makeup.  We had
three changes of clothes during the session, and each change required
changes to Charmaine's hair and makeup, so the whole affair took about
four hours.  I had more fun than Charmaine, especially since I was
able to eat.  Charmaine could not because she was told it would
disturb her makeup.  Our first outfit was <!WA75><!WA75><!WA75><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/chinese-portrait.gif">Chinese</a>, and the second two
were standard western suits and gowns.  We only got 12 pictures in our
album, but they took about 40 shots.  
After the arduous session we
returned to Veronica's for a nap, and then we packed.

<p>
<!WA76><!WA76><!WA76><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/house.gif"><!WA77><!WA77><!WA77><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-house.gif"></a>
We dropped by mom and dad's to pick up a few things and then went to
Kelvin's.  They have a <!WA78><!WA78><!WA78><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/house.gif">great
house</a> with three stories and a very nice garden.
We had a large cookout.  I cooked skewered meat for hours
on the grill, then I ate some of it and ate from a "steamboat."  All
of Charmaine's siblings came to the cookout.

<p>
<!WA79><!WA79><!WA79><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/carolina-kids.gif">
<!WA80><!WA80><!WA80><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-carolina-kids.gif"></a>
Rachel brought <!WA81><!WA81><!WA81><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/carolina-kids.gif">an
American friend's children</a>.  They spoke Mandarin.  Rachel made the
little boy (he was six or seven) sing in Mandarin, then kiss everyone
goodbye.  He wouldn't kiss Vanessa, however.  When Rachel attempted to
force him to kiss Vanessa, he covered his face with his hands and
fled.

<p>
I ate again with Kelvin and Alice after everyone else left.  Alice has
a large collection of Chinese teapots.  I was the first person to
comment on her collection, so she gave me of few of the antiques.
Kelvin and Alice gave us a few other gifts, too.  Favian showed us his
stamp collection.  He is trying to collect stamps depicting soccer
players.  If you have any, please send them to me.  Vanessa showed us
her phone-card collection.  Collecting phone cards is becoming very
big in Singapore.  The new pay phones take the phone cards, which are
valid for a certain number of minutes of calls.  The phone cards have
pictures or advertisements on one side, making them as colorful and
varied as stamps.

<p>
<dt><strong>Friday, September 15</strong>
<dd>
We had dim sum for breakfast with Kelvin and Alice.  We were then the
first in line at the US embassy.  We handed over the forms, faxes, and
instant photos.  We lost one form, so we needed to fill it out again.
The embassy official said they couldn't do any more without the report
from the CID, so we walked back down to the CID to put pressure on them.
They tried to tell us that it would take two weeks, but
they relented and said the certificate would be ready on Monday.
At this point, I got a headache that lasted most of the day.

<p>
We were close to the People's Park shopping mall, so we looked at some
shops.  Shops tend to open fairly late in the day and don't keep
regular hours.  Jee Goo's leather shop is in People's Park Complex,
the oldest shopping mall in Singapore.  We decided to drop by.  His
shop wasn't open yet, so we looked at some Chinese crafts while
waiting for it to open.  We had received some rings as gifts from mom
and dad, but they were just a little too small to fit on our fingers.
Ah Kheem took us to get them resized.  We took a circuituitous route
through air-conditioned malls and sky bridges to get to the jeweller's
shop.  They measured our fingers and said the rings would be ready
after lunch.

<p>
We then went to lunch at a hawker center in the basement of a nearby
mall.  After lunch, we bought a few gifts for my friends and
relatives.  We let Ah Kheem do the haggling.  Being an experienced
haggler, she got us a good deal.
Next, we picked up the rings, we called Alice, and she picked us up.  We
ate dinner at mom and dad's, and then left with Kelvin and Alice.
My headache finally let up around 9pm, but I still went to bed early.  Charmaine
and her brother had a long talk.  She and Kelvin had always been very
close, and I was happy to see that had not changed.

<p>
<dt><strong>Saturday, September 16</strong>
<dd>
<!WA82><!WA82><!WA82><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/sleeping.gif"><!WA83><!WA83><!WA83><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-sleeping.gif"></a>
After breakfast, we took pictures around the house.  Then we went to
the east coast.  I flew a kite on the beach and walked under the palm
trees while <!WA84><!WA84><!WA84><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/sleeping.gif">Charmaine
took a nap on the grass</a>.  With Singapore being 
the busiest port in the world (perhaps the second busiest), ships
could be seen everywhere.

<p>
When I was watching the ships, the kite crashed into some palm trees.
I could not disentangle it, so I merely pulled on the string very hard.
The string broke, and the kite fell to the ground.  I was able to
reattache the string and fly the kite a little longer.
When Charmaine awoke, she taught me a few
words and phrases of Mandarin like "I want to eat bread" and "I want
to drink water," important phrases for me to know.

<p>
Alice picked us up and then dropped us at mom and dad's for a simple
lunch.  I didn't want spicy food because I felt ill the previous day.
I read while Charmaine spoke with her mother and Corinne.

<p>
We then had to repack because we were going to stay with Molly.  We
took a taxi to Molly's.  Molly lives in Jurong, an area outside the
main city.  As soon as we arrived, I played hide and seek with
Eleanor.  We went to dinner at the Palm Springs restaurant in a large
mall.  We had drunken prawns, black pepper crab, steamed live fish,
squid in fried bread, mussels in hot sauce, noodles, and soup.  The
crab was my favorite.  After dinner, we walked around the mall and
bought some snacks.

<p>
Eleanor's father carried her most of the time.  She avoided walking by
complaining of leg pain and "backbone" pain.  
Molly swears she didn't teach Eleanor that
word.  Eleanor has picked up
the bad habit of mumbling from her father, making her almost
unintelligible.  Only her parents can fully decode her munged speach.
Only her favorite words are remotely understandable.  Her favorite
words to say are "don't want" and "no need."  "Don't want" is a direct
translation of "boo yao," which is also used more generally for "no"
in Mandarin.  Eleanor is going through classic two-year-old
negativism, well known in the West.  Just another demonstration of how
alike we all are.

<p>
We went home by bus and I played with Eleanor some more,
quickly becoming the child's favorite uncle.  Eleanor liked to be
swung in circles by her arms and liked to be thrown high into the air.
It was good practice for an expectant father.

<p>
We slept in Molly's room, which had air conditioning.  I think we
set it too cold.  We had to use the blankets.
By the way, everyone sleeps with a bolster, which I
have never seen here.  A bolster is a long, firm, cylindrical pillow.
They each sleep on their side with one arm and one leg draped over the
bolster.  Even children and babies sleep with bolsters.  Bolster
covers come with standard sheet sets.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="birds">Sunday, September 17</a></strong>
<dd>
<!WA85><!WA85><!WA85><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/waterfall.gif">
<!WA86><!WA86><!WA86><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-waterfall.gif"></a>
We had Malaysian food for breakfast (mee siam and mee goreng).
I drank some thick, sweet soy drink that I didn't much care for.  I
played with Eleanor as soon as I finished my food.  Then we took a
taxi to the <!WA87><!WA87><!WA87><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/abal/jbp.html">Jurong Bird
Park</a>, the largest park of its kind in the world.  They have more
than 600 species of tropical birds.  There were many wonderful,
colorful birds.  Unfortunately there were no books detailing the birds
of the park, only books describing the creation of the park.  The park
contains the world's largest enclosed aviary and <!WA88><!WA88><!WA88><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/waterfall.gif">largest man-made waterfall</a>.

<p>
By the end of the foot tour of the park, we were hot and tired.  We
took refuge in the air-conditioned gift shops and in the penguin pen.
Then we left the park and ate lunch at the Burger King just outside.
When we returned to Molly's, Eleanor was sleeping.  Charmaine made me
take a shower, then a nap.  Everyone seemed to think it was necessary to
take four showers a day.

<p>
Douglas picked us up and we visited his new mansionette, a large,
dual-level apartment.  The flat was barren.  There wasn't even any
flooring or paint.  Douglas will have it renovated in the fall.
Rachel gave me a piece of durian to try.  That is when I discovered
the smell.  Still, I was a good sport and I ate two pieces.

<p>
<!WA89><!WA89><!WA89><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/reading.gif">
<!WA90><!WA90><!WA90><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-reading.gif"></a>
Douglas drove us around to show me more of Singapore.  We
ate from a Thai steamboat at Coca's: prawns, sea cucumber, beef, tofu,
and vegetables.  I also had silver noodle salad, a spicy noodle dish.
After dinner, we dropped by the studio to select photos for the album.
The proofs didn't look as good as the pictures from the finished
album.  That made it a little more difficult to choose.
One picture I had to choose was a <!WA91><!WA91><!WA91><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/reading.gif">funny
picture</a> of me pretending to read a Chinese book.

<p>
From the studio, we went to Raffles City and the Westin Hotel.  The
Westin used to be the tallest hotel in the world; it is now the
second tallest hotel.  We went to the restaurant Compass Rose on the
top floor of the hotel.  The elevator went up more than 70 floors in
less than ten seconds.  It was the smoothest elevator ride I had ever
experienced.  We could hardly tell that we were moving.  It was fairly
late, so the restaurant was only serving drinks.  I had a 
<!WA92><!WA92><!WA92><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/cookbook/ssling.html">Singapore
Sling</a>.  We got some souvenir glasses in the form of the
Merlion with a couple of the other drinks.  From the restaurant, we
could see most of the city and the ocean.  During the day, I'm told
you can see Malaysia and Indonesia.

<p>
Before midnight, we went back to Molly's to sleep.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="sentosa">Monday, September 18</a></strong>
<dd>
From Molly's, we took a bus to the MRT station, and took the MRT back
to the city to the CID.  We finally got Charmaine's certification of
no criminal record and walked down to the US embassy.  It was about a
mile and Charmaine was hot and tired when we arrived at the embassy.
I was only hot.  The embassy finally had all of the paperwork, so we
made an appointment for an interview on the following day.

<p>
<!WA93><!WA93><!WA93><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/sentosa.gif">
<!WA94><!WA94><!WA94><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-sentosa.gif"></a>
We then caught a free taxi ride around the corner to the MPH
bookstore.  We bought a book on famous Chinese poems and another on
the birds of Singapore.  We returned to mom and dad's for lunch and
ate chicken curry, rice, and bread.  After lunch, we took a taxi to
the Paragon shopping mall.  We looked around at the high-priced
clothing stores for about an hour.  From there, we caught a shuttle to
<!WA95><!WA95><!WA95><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/sentosa.gif">Sentosa</a>,
a resort island of the coast of the main island.  We left our luggage
at the <!WA96><!WA96><!WA96><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/hotels/M2R.html#rasasentosa">Rasa
Sentosa Shangri-La Hotel</a> and went off to explore the <!WA97><!WA97><!WA97><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/island/sentosa.html">island</a>.

<p>
First, we went to the <!WA98><!WA98><!WA98><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/island/sentosa.html#uww">Underwater World</a>.  It has a neat, if small,
aquarium with a walk-through tunnel.  The largest "fish" were the
manta rays.  Chicago's aquarium is much larger.  Disappointed by the
aquarium, we decided not to go to any more tourist sites if we had to
pay outrageous fees.  We went back to the hotel and checked in.
Charmaine took a nap, and I took a swim.

<p>
We took the free monorail around the island so we could quickly see
everything.  We got off at the hawker center for dinner.  Charmaine
ordered ipoh Hor Fun and I ordered wan tan and char siew noodles.  We
also shared a spring roll.  After we finished the food, we walked
around the fountain garden, the enchanted grove, and the Asian
village.  We headed back to the dancing fountain for a show.  The
dancing fountain is a very large fountain with many jets and colored
lights.  There is one long line of jets across the bottom of the
amphitheater and rings of jets on the sides of the main "stage".  The
jets cause the water to move in time to music.  The music was mostly
traditional Chinese instrumental music, with a few old songs as well.

<p>
After the show, we almost got lost looking for a monorail station
since it was very dark by this time.  After walking in a circle around
the fountain garden, we found the monorail station and rode back to
the hotel.  I wanted to take a swim, but I was told the pool was
closed (it wasn't).  Charmaine was hungry again, so we tried to order
pizza.  However, the kitchen had changed to the night menu already, so
she ordered char kway teow.  Why isn't pizza on the night menu?

<p>
<dt><strong>Tuesday, September 19</strong>
<dd>
I got up early to swim.  After swimming, I awoke Charmaine and we went
down for the American breakfast: bacon, eggs, danishes, rolls, yogurt,
cereal.  We rushed to checkout and catch the shuttle back to the
Paragon.  From there, we took a cab to the US embassy for our
interview.  We made it in time for our appointment at 9:30am, but we
had to wait two hours before our interview, which lasted maybe 20
minutes.  Apparently, some paperwork hadn't yet arrived from another
office.  After we were finished, we went back to mom and dad's for
lunch, then we went to the <!WA99><!WA99><!WA99><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/hotels/G2L.html#garden">Garden
Hotel</a> with Corinne.

<p>
Corinne stayed with Charmaine to talk while I went to the embassy to
pick up Charmaine's visa.  I was back at the hotel in about 45
minutes.  As I arrived, Corinne was just leaving, so she took my taxi.
Charmaine and I then took a nap.

<p>
The visa ordeal was finally over.  We originally planned to leave on
the 22nd, but the visa mess had swallowed up so much time that we
hadn't seen anything yet.  So, we decided to extend our stay by one
week.  Also, it turned out that typhoon Ryan was scheduled to hit
Taiwan on the 22nd, and everyone else had changed their flights before
us.  Therefore, it was very difficult to get the flight we wanted.  If
we left for Taipei on the 29th, we would be stuck there until October
3rd.  So, we decided to leave on the 28th and cancel our trip to
Taiwan.

<p>
Lorraine picked us up for dinner and took us to Sanu, an Indonesian
restaurant.  Henry treated us to dinner.  My favorite was the tahu
telor, a basket of egg and tofu filled with vegetables and mushrooms,
covered with a sweet sauce.  We also tried ayam bali (a chicken
curry), sambal prawns (shrimp with okra and chilli sauce), fried baby
sotong (squids), kang kong belachan (stir-fried vegetables), ikan
peppe (ground fish in banana leaf), beef rendang, and chendol (coconut
milk, agar-coated water chestnuts, and seago).  After dinner, we
returned to the hotel.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="tea">Wednesday, September 20</a></strong>
<dd>
It rained for the first time during my stay this morning.  I wrote nearly a dozen
postcards while Charmaine slept with a cold.  Everyone said she got
sick because of the air conditioning.  They were probably right.
Charmaine liked to keep the rooms so cold that we needed blankets.  I
turned the thermostat up.

<p>
We ate lunch at the Courtyard Cafe, the hotel's restaurant.  Our
waiter was an idiot, and he was obviously the new guy, since he was
stuck with all of the work.  We started out with the right silverware,
but then he came and took some of it away.  There were three places
set at our table, but he took some of the silverware from in front of
me and some (not all) from the empty place.  So, I stole what I needed from a
neighboring table.  When we ordered, he
tried to finish my sentences and didn't listen to what I was ordering.
Finally, I managed to order two "garden" chef salads and a sandwich.
The salads arrived after a significant delay, but they had hardly any
vegetables in them, mostly sticks of cheese and lunch meat.  The
waiter then went back to setting up the buffet tables.  There was an awful
hair in my salad, but I was very hungry by this time, so I removed it
and finished the salad.  It didn't appear that my sandwich was going
to come any time soon, so I just asked for the check and refused to
pay for the sandwich.  The waiter tried to give it to me, then tried
to send it to my room.  The manager came over to try to appease me,
but I just wanted to leave at that point.  In general, the
tourist-oriented businesses like the hotels treated me better than
Charmaine or other natives.  They try to be very accomodating to
western tourists.  Anyway, I refused the free coffee.  The manager
took the sandwich and my salad (because of the hair) off the bill.  I
gave him cash and we walked out before he returned with the change.

<p>
<!WA100><!WA100><!WA100><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/orchard.gif">
<!WA101><!WA101><!WA101><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-orchard.gif"></a>
We then had some coffee in our room and took a shuttle to the
Specialist Center, a shopping mall on <!WA102><!WA102><!WA102><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/shop/city.html">Orchard Road, a famous
shopping district in Singapore</a>.  <!WA103><!WA103><!WA103><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/orchard.gif">Right across the street</a> was where our
wedding banquet was held.
We bought some stamps for a few more
postcards, then went into the mall.  I bought a lamb's wool sweater
at Robinson's, one of the oldest department stores in Singapore.  For
that, we got a free pair of gold earrings.  I think they
were 18k gold.  One cannot find 14k gold in Singapore.  Even 18k and
22k gold are uncommon.  Singaporeans like pure gold in their jewelry.

<p>
We then took the MRT from Sommerset station to Outram Park.  That was
the stop closest to the CID, by the way.  We met Corinne, Paulette,
and Anna at the station.  Anna is an old friend of Charmaine and
Corinne.  Her older sister was eaten by a shark while scuba diving
when she and Charmaine were children.  I think they never found her
head.  Needless to say, Charmaine is afraid of sharks.

<p>
<!WA104><!WA104><!WA104><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/street.gif">
<!WA105><!WA105><!WA105><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-street.gif"></a>
From the station, we all walked through <!WA106><!WA106><!WA106><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/street.gif">chinatown</a>
to the Tea Chapter, a famous tea house 
run by business students.  Queen Elizabeth had tea there once.  There
is a picture of her just inside the door.  Once inside, we had to
remove our shoes.  

<p>
<!WA107><!WA107><!WA107><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/making-tea.gif">
<!WA108><!WA108><!WA108><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-making-tea.gif"></a>
From the server, we learned <!WA109><!WA109><!WA109><a
href="http://desires.com/1.4/Food/Docs/tea.html">the art of making
Chinese tea</a>.  It is a fairly elaborate process.  First, hot water is
brought to the table.  It is kept hot by a small burner.  Whenever our
water was low, they brought more.  Then we received a tray over a
large pan to catch excess tea.  On the tray was a small clay teapot, a
small basin for waste tea, five sniffing cups, five drinking cups, and
five plates.  Chinese teapots are made from a special, rare kind of
clay, only used for teapots.  The type of clay is thought to affect
the tea in various ways.  The server also brought a tea scoop, pick,
tweezers, and towel.  We tried two types of tea: a green tea (I don't
remember the name) and a floral tea made of chrysanthemum flowers
(called oriental beauty).  I preferred the green tea, but both were
very good.

<p>
The teapot and cups are first rinsed with the hot water to heat them.
Cold cups are said to disflavor the tea.  The pan catches the water.
Next, the teapot is filled 1/3 with the dried tea leaves.  Next, the
teapot is filled to the brim with hot water.  As it is covered with
the lid, some water spills into the pan.  After 30 seconds, the tea is
discarded into the basin.  The first batch is intended to rehydrate
the tea leaves only.  After that, the leaves can be used three times
before the tea becomes weak.  Each time, the teapot is filled to the
drim with hot water.  Then the lid is added, causing some water to
spill out.  The tea is then poured out completely into the sniffing
cups.  Any excess is dumped in the basin.  It should not be left in
the teapot.  The tea is then served in the sniffing cups on the small
plates with the drinking cups.  Once the tea aroma has been
appreciated, the tea is transferred to the drinking cups.  The tea is
drunk from the drinking cup in exactly three sips.  Once finished, the
cups and plates are returned to the server.  Before we drank the
second tea, we received a different type of teapot and we rinsed the
cups.

<p>
<!WA110><!WA110><!WA110><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/teahouse.gif"><!WA111><!WA111><!WA111><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-teahouse.gif"></a>
After drinking tea and eating Chinese pastries, we took some 
<!WA112><!WA112><!WA112><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/teahouse.gif">pictures</a>.
Corinne and Paulette bought us a nice tea set similar to the one we
used.  We thanked them for the set and went back to the hotel to rest.
I worked on finishing the postcards until dinner.  We took a taxi to
mom and dad's, where we ate fish-head curry.  After dinner, Douglas
dropped us at the hotel.

<p>
<dt><strong>Thursday, September 21</strong>
<dd>
We slept late, then I got up to swim in the pool on the roof of the
hotel.  We missed the free shuttle, so we took a taxi to the Scott's
shopping mall in the Orchard Road district.  We ate at <!WA113><!WA113><!WA113><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/places.html#scottspicnic">Scott's
Picnic Court</a>.  Charmaine had fish ball soup, and I tried Chinese vegetarian
food.  They somehow made vegetables, flour, and tofu more oily than
pork.  We then went up to the mall and bought a golden egg for Geoff
at Risis.  Geoff had to make a trip to our apartment to fax us
financial statements, so we wanted to get him a token of our
gratitude.  The egg symbolizes a golden future.  Its roundness
symbolizes that there will be no end to his happiness.  The egg rests
on a special orchid, the Vanda Miss Joaqim, the national flower of
Singapore, electroplated with gold.  Miss Joaqim was either the woman that
created the special hybrid, or the creator's daughter.  When I find
out which, I'll let you know.

<p>
We then headed back to the hotel, where we met mom.  I went to swim
while she and Charmaine talked.  When I returned, they were in the cafe.  I took
the key from Charmaine and returned to the room.  Once I had showered
and changed, I rejoined them in the cafe.  We all took a taxi back to
mom and dad's to eat.  Charmaine napped with Vanessa while I cut beans
for dinner.  After her nap, Mei Mei took me for a walk around the
neighborhood.  She showed me which friends had dogs (she likes dogs)
and where Uncle George lived.  When we returned, it was time for
dinner.

<p>
After dinner, Henry dropped us at the photo studio.  We picked up the
wedding album.  We were very pleased with how it turned out, so we
ordered more small pictures to give to friends.  We then headed back
to the hotel, where I read and watched news on TV.  The hotel had CNN
International.  By this time, we were both sick with colds.  Coughing,
congested, and with a headache, I went to bed early.

<p>
<dt><strong>Friday, September 22</strong>
<dd>
<!WA114><!WA114><!WA114><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/takashimaya.gif">
<!WA115><!WA115><!WA115><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-takashimaya.gif"></a>
Both of us were still very sick.  We went out for lunch at
<!WA116><!WA116><!WA116><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/takashimaya.gif">Takashimaya/Ngee
Ann City</a>, the largest mall in all of Asia.  This mall
is also in the Orchard Road district.  We saw a Japanese wood-block
printing exhibit in a gallery there before we ate wan tan noodles in
the food court in the basement.  Afterwards, we adjurned to the hotel
for a rest.  Corinne came to check us out, then we went to rest at mom
and dad's.

<p>
I helped to cut beans again.  After dinner, Favian taught me to play
<!WA117><!WA117><!WA117><a href="http://www.io.org/~sung/xq/xq.html">xiang qi, or Chinese
chess</a>.  I lost the first several games rather quickly.  The cannon
is a tricky piece.  Also, I allowed my own guards to trap my king into
easy checkmates.  Soon, we went to Kelvin's.  We had planned to go on
the Night Safari, but it was raining fairly heavily, so we didn't.  It
was a good thing, actually, but we didn't feel well.  We looked at
Alice's teapots for a while and I chose two for my grandmother.  She
collects teapots.  I said I wasn't hungry, but when Kelvin brought
back fresh bread made in an old-fashioned stone oven, I couldn't
resist.  Apparently, there are only five such ovens left in Singapore.
That is a shame, because the bread was very good.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="safari">Saturday, September 23</a></strong>
<dd>
For breakfast, I had bread and salad.  Alice made a very large salad
for me.  I wouldn't normally eat salad for breakfast, but I was
thankful for it.  I started a game of
xiang qi with Favian, but we didn't finish it.  I was starting to do a
little better.

<p>
Charmaine, Kaharina, and Vanessa at the Yamaha
Music School for Mei Mei's ballet lessons.  Favian and I walked around
Parkway Parade Mall.  Kelvin's office is on a higher floor in the same
building.  Favian bought a Chinese chess set "for a friend."  He
showed me some books on Chinese culture in the MPH bookshop.  Alice
then took Favian to his abacus class and dropped off Charmaine and
Vanessa.  She took Kaharina to mom and dad's (the maid works in both
houses).  We went back to MPH and I bought one of the books on the
Chinese culture and a story Favian suggested called <em>Journey to the
West</em>.  The story is about a monk who travels to India with a
pig-headed man and the monkey god to find the sacred Buddhist
scriptures and take them back to China.  I haven't read it yet.

<p>
We then just waited for Alice.  She returned with Kelvin.  Alice
helped us pick out a CD of traditional Chinese instrumental music.
The one we chose was one of a series.  I'm looking forward to buying
more CDs in the series on our next trip.  Next, we all went to pick up
Favian, and then we ate lunch at a Thai restaurant.  I ate tom yum
soup (a very spicy soup with lemon grass and cilantro), vegetables,
tofu, and fish.  Fish is always cooked whole in Singapore (unless it's
just the head).  After lunch, we dropped the kids at more classes and
dropped Kelvin at work.

<p>
<!WA118><!WA118><!WA118><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/temple.gif"><!WA119><!WA119><!WA119><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-temple.gif"></a>
Alice then took us to an old <!WA120><!WA120><!WA120><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/info/pow.html#chinese">Taoist
temple</a>.  There were hundreds of
idols of immortals and gods, people burning incense, and people
burning paper offerings (the "money" of the immortals).  Apparently,
worshippers cannot look directly into the eyes of the statues, so they
look away as they repeatedly bow and chant while holding the incense
upright at their chests.  They leave incense burning in a pot of sand
in front of different areas of the <!WA121><!WA121><!WA121><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/temple.gif">temple</a>.  We also saw someone
putting real meat into the mouth of a statue of a tiger and chanting.
Intercessors were praying in the secret language of the immortals.
Intercessors aid people in their worship in exchange for donations to
the temple.
We saw someone else throwing something on the ground and stomping on
it to chase away bad luck. 

<p>
<!WA122><!WA122><!WA122><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/museum.gif"><!WA123><!WA123><!WA123><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-museum.gif"></a>
After seeing the temple and coughing from the smoke, we went to the
<!WA124><!WA124><!WA124><a href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/nhb/museum.html">National Museum</a>.  First we looked at a series of dioramas that
depicted the development of Singapore from the time of Stamford
Raffles.  Next, we saw replicas of traditional Chinese blue and white
pottery.  We also saw exhibits of some jade and quartz items and <!WA125><!WA125><!WA125><a
href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/museum.gif">old
storefronts</a>.  The main exhibit commemorated World War II.  I sat in a
hut that was supposed to be like a hut near Hiroshima when the A-bomb
detonated.  However, the noise wasn't very loud and the room didn't
shake much, probably for safety reasons.  We wanted to see an exhibit
on teapots, but apparently it was over at the end of August.  We took
a few pictures, even though it was forbidden.  We almost were caught,
but managed to escape.  A guard saw a flash and came looking for the
culprit, but we stashed the camera in a bag and casually walked by
him.

<p>
After we left, we picked up the others and headed to mom and dad's
for dinner.  I played Chinese chess with Favian again.  I beat him for
the first time on my own.  He then quickly defeated me three times in
a row with tricks.  After I learned the defenses, I began to beat him
again.  Meanwhile, Charmaine napped.

<p>
<!WA126><!WA126><!WA126><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/safari.gif">
<!WA127><!WA127><!WA127><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-safari.gif"></a>
After dinner, we made a quick stop at Kelvin's and then headed to the
<!WA128><!WA128><!WA128><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/safari.gif">Night
Safari</a>.  We couldn't take any pictures of the animals because
flash photography was prohibited.
We took the tram around the night zoo and got off once
to walk along a trail.  I felt like I was in Jurassic Park.
There were no cages or fences separating us
from the animals, so we did not walk near the tiger or rhino.  I think
I heard that someone was mauled shortly after the night safari opened.
I was not anxious to be the next victim.  We saw a number of animals I
had not seen before as well as some old favorites: Himalayan tahrs,
bharals, markhors, mouflons, marsh birds, otters, hog deer, a
one-horned rhino, axis deer, water buffalo, jackals, sambar deer,
barasinghas, sarus cranes, hyaenas, a lion, sloth bears, giraffes
scimitar-horned oryxes, servals, blesboks, Lechwe waterbucks,
Thomson's gazelles, Cape buffalo, bongos, anoas, bearded pigs,
barirusas, a tiger, tapirs, red dholes, Asian elephants, bantengs,
capybaras, maras, agoutis, giant anteaters, gaurs, thamins, leopards,
cheetahs, mousedeer, flying foxes, bearcats, fishing cats, and others.
The mousedeer was probably the most unusual animal.  It was a small,
fat deer about the size and shape of a large rabbit.  It had long,
skinny legs, however, that it extended when it got up to walk.  We
didn't see all of the animals at the night zoo because we did not go
down all of the trails, and because a few of the animals were hiding.
Still, we had a great time.

<p>
We then returned home.  Everyone went to bed, but I stayed up to watch
a Kung Fu movie made in Hong Kong with English subtitles.  I used to
watch movies like that every weekend on the USA network when I was
little.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="hawpar">Sunday, September 24</a></strong>
<dd>
We woke up late.  Once again, I ate salad for breakfast and played a
game of xiang qi afterwards.  This time I won.  Charmaine and I were still feeling
a little sick, but much better.  We went for duck rice at Pasir
Panjang early in the afternoon.  Everyone but Charmaine drank some
lime juice and it gave us all diarrhea.  I found all of the food
pretty safe except uncooked food, especially fruit, at hawker stalls
and small, old restaurants.

<p>
<!WA129><!WA129><!WA129><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/journey.gif"><!WA130><!WA130><!WA130><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-journey.gif"></a>
<!WA131><!WA131><!WA131><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/haw-par.gif"><!WA132><!WA132><!WA132><img align=middle src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-haw-par.gif"></a>
<!WA133><!WA133><!WA133><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/fu-lu-shou.gif">
<!WA134><!WA134><!WA134><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-fu-lu-shou.gif"></a>
<p>
After lunch, they dropped me at <!WA135><!WA135><!WA135><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/museum/hawpar.html">Haw Par
Villa</a>, the only Chinese
mythology themepark in the world, and the only themepark in Singapore.
I saw displays of <!WA136><!WA136><!WA136><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/journey.gif">"Journey to the West"</a>;
the eight immortals; the Buddhas; 
<!WA137><!WA137><!WA137><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/fu-lu-shou.gif">Fu, Lu, and Shou</a>;
dragons; <!WA138><!WA138><!WA138><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/haw-par.gif">gates</a>;
and other aspects of Chinese mythology.  I ran from display to display
since I only had a couple hours in which to see everything.  Still, I
manage to catch all three shows playing that day.  

<p>
<!WA139><!WA139><!WA139><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/clowns.gif">
<!WA140><!WA140><!WA140><img align=left src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-clowns.gif"></a>
<!WA141><!WA141><!WA141><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/eight-immortals.gif">
<!WA142><!WA142><!WA142><img align=middle src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-eight-immortals.gif"></a>
<!WA143><!WA143><!WA143><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/storytelling.gif">
<!WA144><!WA144><!WA144><img align=middle src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-storytelling.gif"></a>
<p>
The <!WA145><!WA145><!WA145><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/clowns.gif">first show</a> was of some clowns on stilts.  The
<!WA146><!WA146><!WA146><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/eight-immortals.gif">second</a> had actors dressed
as the eight immortals.  The <!WA147><!WA147><!WA147><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/storytelling.gif">final
show</a> told the story of the Lady of the Moon.  The two
storytellers volunteered four members of the audience to play the
characters: the lady, the husband, the priest, and the dragon.  It was
pretty funny.  The dragon wore goofy horns and a silly tail and had to
roar when his name was spoken.  The lady had to shy away and giggle
when her name was spoken.  The husband had to "twang" a toy bow.  The
priest had to perform a silly dance, make strange noises, and wave a
special brush.  The basic story is that the lady and husband are
married by the priest, the dragon terrorized the countryside, the
husband went to kill the dragon, the lady surprised the dragon and
scared it to death, and then the lady rose up to the moon.  The story
may not make sense, but it was funny to watch.

<p>
Kelvin and the kids picked me up and we went back to mom and dad's.
It was raining back in the city.  I went swimming with the kids at
Farrer Park.
Their class had been cancelled, but we swam anyway.  Mei Mei liked to
cling to the side, but I finally managed to get her to swim across the
breadth of the pool.  Favian could swim fairly well.  He jumped in the
pool wearing special pajamas to practice his survival swimming.  He
removed the pajamas, tied knots in the legs of the pants, and inflated
the pants with his breath to use them as a floatation device.  Vanessa
couldn't quite manage to do it.  Favian also swam the length of the
pool with me.  When Kelvin and Alice returned, the kids showered and
changed.  I didn't bring any clothes to change into, however, so I sat
on a plastic bag as we rode back to mom and dad's.  Actually, I could
have walked.  The pool was only a few blocks from the house.

<p>
After dinner, we returned to Kelvin's and looked at old photos.  There
was a cute picture of Favian and Vanessa bathing when they were young.
Vanessa was very embarassed by the picture and tried to get it away
from us.  There were also pictures of Kelvin's previous house.  They
moved down the street to their current house because of a dispute with
a neighbor over the position of an old wall.

<p>
<dt><strong>Monday, September 25</strong>
<dd>
Favian took us down the road for roti prata, my favorite of all the
Singaporean breakfast foods.  When we returned to Kelvin's, I ate
another salad.  Mike, their rottweiler, escaped when Kaharina left the
gate open a little.  Alice and I went different directions to look for
him.  Alice found him and took him home.  Apparently, Mike always ran
to the same apartment building whenever he escaped.
He had always barked at me
previously, but after running free for a while he was very friendly.
I pet him and gave him a few treats and I could tell we were going to
be friends.

<p>
We had small frozen pizzas for lunch.  Everyone was still sick from
the lime juice, except Charmaine who didn't have any, so Vanessa
didn't go to school.  Until high school, the kids only go for half a
day.  Vanessa had morning school, but Favian had afternoon school.
Favian did go to school.  After we dropped him off, we went to mom and
dad's.  There I had congee as a second lunch.

<p>
After lunch we dropped off a roll of film to be developed and took the
MRT to the Dynasty Hotel with Corinne.  The hotel had been recently
taken over from the Tang family by Marriott, and the famous murals
were gone.  I was disappointed.
We then took the MRT to Raffles City and bought another
Risis golden egg, this time for Charmaine's boss.  Charmaine also
shopped for some maternity clothes with Corinne while I looked at
books.

<p>
We again went to mom and dad's for dinner.  Mom spent the majority of
every day shopping at the market and cooking for the whole family.  We
had something simple for dinner, only tofu and vegetables.
Afterwards, Douglas, Rachel, and Corinne took Charmaine and I to pick
up more photos at the studio and drove us around town.  We had a brief
discussion of Singaporean politics.  Apparently, Douglas once met one
of the leaders of an opposition party and the others warned
Douglas to stay away from him, to not even talk to him should Douglas
run into him again.  I found that fear of even brief, casual
contact disturbing.  We returned to mom and dad's and went to bed
early.

<p>
<dt><strong>Tuesday, September 26</strong>
<dd>
Corinne made us eggs and toast for breakfast.  I then walked to the
Novena MRT station and took the train to Tanjong Pagar.  From there, I
walked to the Apex Tower to pick up our new airline tickets.  When I
went to the EVA office, they just put stickers on our original tickets
that had the new flight information.  I then walked to the boat quay
and took a bumboat ride on the Singapore River.  Actually, I once
mistook the river for one of Singapore's canals.  Charmaine was
offended when I once innocently asked if it was "a drain," just like
the townspeople from <em>The Englishman That Went Up a Hill But Came
Down a Mountain</em>.  The ride went up past Clarke Quay and back down
to Marina Bay, past the Merlion.  Two Japanese tourists on the trip
took about 30 pictures each, compared to my six or seven.

<p>
After the ride, I walked over to the <!WA148><!WA148><!WA148><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/info/pow.html#indian">Hindu Chettiars'
Temple</a>.  Unfortunately, it
was closed.  I settled for a couple pictures of the exterior, then
walked back to the MRT station near St. Andrew's Cathedral.  I took
a few pictures of the cathedral and went back to mom and dad's.  I
took a shower right away and sat down for lunch.  Corinne had made
speghetti for me.  She was starting to sense that I was tired of
Chinese food.  I had planned to go to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve,
but Nelson could not take me.  He had a meeting.  So, I packed and
took a nap.

<p>
We were supposed to meet Valerie for dinner.  So, we took a bus to
the Marina Square shopping center.  Singapore has two or three competing
bus services, so service is fairly good.  We waited a short time at a
stop near mom and dad's before bus 56 came by.  The bus took us
directly to the shopping center.  After we arrived we waited only a
few minutes before Valerie and Stanley arrived in another bus.  We had
dinner at Kenny Rogers's Chicken.

<p>
The restaurant had many pictures of Kenny Rogers on the walls, and I
think it was playing his music.  Fortunately, I couldn't really hear
it.  The place was packed and there was a line (called a queue in
Singapore) going out the door.

<p>
I had a chicken on pita bread and
Charmaine ordered a chicken pot pie.  We also had vegetables, muffins,
and soup.  Charmaine ate the top crust of her pie then gave the rest
to me, asking me to leave a little for her.  She mostly ate the soup.
I got carried away, however, and all of her pie after quickly
finishing my own food.  It was pretty good.  Charmaine was shocked.
Thankfully, she was essentially full already, but she still teased
me for the rest of the night for eating her dinner.

<p>
We went down to a <!WA149><!WA149><!WA149><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/places.html#ms.foodcentre">hawker
center</a> in the basement for dessert.  I tried
the ice kachang, even though I didn't like any other desserts I had
tried.  The ice kachang was fruit covered by a huge mound of ice with
three different flavored syrups and condensed milk poured over it.
I didn't really like the syrups or the milk, so I just ate some of
the fruit.  Big mistake.  I had diarrhea again later that night.

<p>
Stanley hopped on a bus, then Valerie, Charmaine, and I hopped on 56
to return to mom and dad's.  Valerie also still lives at home until
her wedding ceremony in December.  After we got back, I talked to
Douglas for a long time.  I think I got along with Douglas the best
of all Charmaine's siblings.  He talked to me the most.  Corinne and
Kelvin, Charmaine's closest siblings, would be tied for second.  I
also got along very well with the kids -- Favian, Vanessa, and
Eleanor.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="reserve">Wednesday, September 27</a></strong>
<dd>
<!WA150><!WA150><!WA150><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/bukit-timah.gif">
<!WA151><!WA151><!WA151><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/Half-bukit-timah.gif"></a>
I had eggs, toast, and salad for breakfast again.  Nelson arrived as I
was finishing.  We drove to <!WA152><!WA152><!WA152><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/park/btnature.html">Bukit Timah
Nature Reserve</a>, the last rain forest in Singapore.  The
<!WA153><!WA153><!WA153><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/singpics/bukit-timah.gif">reserve</a>
is on a big hill in the middle of the
island.  The view from the top of the hill is amazing.  You can see
apartment buildings and construction around the whole island.  
Unfortunately, the noise caused by the construction is virtually inescapable,
even in the reserve.  We could also hear military exercises taking place:
guns and helicopters.  We saw many exotic plants and spiders in the
visitor's center, and at least some of them on the trail through the
reserve.

<p> Charmaine had studied plants in the reserve when she was a student
at <!WA154><!WA154><!WA154><a href="http://www.nus.sg">NUS</a>.  She told us of the huge and
strange spiders, so we were looking forward to seeing them.
Unfortunately, the spiders are out only for a short while after dawn,
before it becomes too hot.  We were lucky to see any.  We were almost
at the end of our trail before we saw one.  The web spanned the trail
and had a large spider at the center.  The spider was long and narrow,
maybe four or five inches in length and nearly an inch in width.  Its
long legs made it look like it was about the size of my hand.  The
body was mostly black, with a little gold near the head.  As we ducked
under the web, the spider slowly crawled towards us.  So, we hurried
along the trail.  I wanted to get a picture of the spider, but I had
mistakenly taken my own, cheap camera instead of Rachel's fancy one
with a zoom lens.

<p>
The trees and their leaves were quite large.  The trees were not as
wide as those I saw in King's Canyon in California, but several were
as tall or perhaps taller.  Some leaves were as large as my torso,
and some were nearly as large as my whole body.  Banana trees, for
example, have very large leaves.  The ants were also quite big.  They
were definitely more than an inch long.  I wouldn't want to find those
in my apartment.  The reserve was neat.  Our hike was only about two
hours.  I hope to go back and go on the other trails that we skipped.
Still, I could probably hike around the whole reserve in a little over
three hours.  There isn't much land in Singapore, and there isn't
much left of the reserve.

<p>
Nelson dropped me at mom and dad's.  I was looking forward to Corinne
making pizza, but everyone else was screaming murder, so she served me
her speghetti again.  Favian and Vanessa claimed that Corinne's pizza
made them sick.  Corinne said that they just ate too much of it.  Many
Singaporeans are somewhat lactose-intolerant because they do not drink
milk or eat dairy products on a regular basis.
I took a shower before eating.  After lunch,
I read while Charmaine talked to mom.  Corinne came by to talk to me.
Charmaine's mother was starting to worry about her, since we would
soon leave.  I assured them that I would take good care of Charmaine.

<p>
It began to rain once again.  We took a cab to <!WA155><!WA155><!WA155><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/att/landmark/rh.html">Raffles
Hotel</a> with Rachel
and Corinne anyway.  First, we went to the museum upstairs.  It portrayed
the illustrious history of the grand hotel.  The hotel has been visited
by many members of royalty and other important persons.  Nobel laureates
have written about it in their works.  The famous <!WA156><!WA156><!WA156><a
href="http://www.ncb.gov.sg/sog/food/cookbook/ssling.html">Singapore
Sling</a> was
invented there.  Rachel bought us some tshirts and other trinkets,
after which we went downstairs.  We had gone to the hotel for high tea,
but we planned to have a big dinner, so settled for dessert at the
Empress Cafe instead.  Since the hotel was established by westerners,
it had western food.  I ordered black forest cake and coffee.  It
was very good.  Charmaine just ate a cheese croissant.

<p>
After eating our fill, we returned to mom and dad's.  I went for a walk
with Ah Nee, Eleanor, and Vanessa.  Along the way, we found a dog and, of
course, Vanessa had to play with it.  So, we had to wash up when we returned to
the house.  I decided to take a quick shower.  Charmaine approved.

<p>
Douglas took us to Wong's Court Restaurant.  Rachel had to pick up something on the
way, so we left early.  Still, we were nearly late again.  Our dinner
was at the same restaurant where Valerie will have her wedding banquet,
and the menu was the same as well.  Favian gave me the chess set that
he had supposed bought for a friend.  Kelvin said that was the first time
Favian bought anything for anyone.  I was touched.  Vanessa bought shoulder-strap pads
for Charmaine's car since Charmaine had commented that she liked the
pads in Alice's car.  I was impressed by her thoughtfulness.  The
dinner wasn't quite as elaborate as our first ten-course dinner.
There were nine courses, some of which were similar to dishes at our
first dinner (like the shark fin soup).  In general, the dishes
were simpler.  I was actually thankful for that.  It was still a lot
of food.

<p>
After stuffing ourselves, we returned to mom and dad's.  Rachel gave
me a Chinese name (I had asked for one a few days earlier and nobody
could come up with one).  She taught me the strokes so that I could
write the Chinese characters.  The name is Kang Zhi Yuan.  The Kang
is actually different from Charmaine's Kang, but the similarity is
nice.  Mine means "picture of health."  The Zhi means "great thinker"
and Yuan means "great foresight."  The name may or may not accurately
describe me, but it is certainly flattering and it has a better
meaning than sound-alikes of Brian.

<p>
<dt><strong><a name="home">Thursday, September 28</a></strong>
<dd>
I had bread for breakfast.  Nobody could understand how I could just
eat plain bread.
Shortly thereafter Kelvin and Alice dropped
by to say farewell.  Then, Douglas took us to the airport a couple hours
early.  Mom, dad, and Corinne went, too.  Douglas had to leave, but the
others stayed with us in the airport for a while.  Nelson dropped by to
say goodbye.  Luckily, he had official business at the airport (he works
for the Brazilian embassy).  When it was time to say goodbye, everyone
cried except me.  It was hard on Charmaine to leave home again.  All
I could do was hold her.  We walked down to the boarding area and waited
a little while before boarding.

<p>
Once on the plane, I felt terrible.  I suffered much more than on the
flights to Singapore.
I quickly became congested and
dehydrated.  The food was awful.  The movies I had already seen on
the previous flights: "The Adventurers" and "Prince Brat and the
Whipping Boy."  If you have heard of these movies, let me know.  They
weren't as bad as they could have been.  After we arrived in the
Taipei airport, we boarded our next flight almost immediately.  That
flight was the tough one.  The flight was nearly full, so there was
no place to lie down and not much room to even walk around.  We arrive
in Seattle a full hour early.

<p>
We breezed through immigration and customs, so then we had to wait for
Geoff.  He had called the airport and knew our flight was early, but
he had a quiz section to
teach, so he couldn't come any earlier.  I paged for him just as he
walked through the doors.  I dropped Geoff at campus and gave him his
golden egg.  We then went to the bank to deposit our unused traveller's
checks, and to the post office to collect mail and restart delivery.
After that, we were finally home.  Charmaine went to sleep right away.
I stayed up for several hours unpacking.  I ordered a pizza.  When
it arrived, I awakened Charmaine.  She went back to sleep after
eating, and I wasn't far behind her.

</dl>

<h5><!WA157><!WA157><!WA157><img width=100% height=5 border=0 src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/dot-green.gif"><br>
<!WA158><!WA158><!WA158><a href="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/"><!WA159><!WA159><!WA159><img align=right src="http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/grant/back-green.gif" border=0></a>
Last updated February 10, 1996.<br>
<!WA160><!WA160><!WA160><a href="mailto:grant@cs.washington.edu">Brian Kris Grant (<em>grant@cs.washington.edu</em>)</a>
</h5>
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